News
June 12 , 2026
No Survivors as Army Helicopter Crashes Near MuzaffarabadRawalpindi: No survivors were reported after an Mi-17 helicopter of Pakistan Army Aviation crashed near Muzaffarabad on Wednesday during take-off “due to a technical fault”, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.
Rescue and recovery teams immediately reached the crash site. “All personnel on board embraced martyrdom. There were no survivors,” the ISPR said in a statement.
“A board of inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the exact technical cause of the accident,” the military’s media affairs wing said.
Chief of Defense Forces (CDF) and Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir, along with all ranks of the army, expressed “deep grief over the tragic loss of precious lives and extended heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families”, the ISPR said.
The army’s aviation wing began operating Russian-made Mi-17 transport helicopters in the late 1990s. Mi-17s are considered reliable workhorses of Pakistan Army Aviation.
The helicopter can perform utility, transport and combat roles. It carries a crew of three and has space for up to 24 troops or four tons of cargo.
Over the years, the United States has helped Pakistan refurbish and overhaul 22 Mi-17 helicopters.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed deep grief and sorrow over the helicopter crash, state-run APP reported.
In separate statements, the president and the prime minister extended their heartfelt sympathies to the families of those martyred in the accident.
In the last such crash reported, five personnel had died in September 2025 after an army helicopter crashed in Gilgit-Baltistan’s Diamer district after a “technical fault”.
In August 2025, a rescue helicopter of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government crashed in the Mohmand district due to bad weather, killing two pilots and three crew members.
The second half of 2022 saw two crashes of army helicopters. - Dawn
Courtesy Dawn
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